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Two pressures are measured for a blood pressure reading 1  : Systolic blood pressure is a measure of blood pressure while the heart is beating. 2  Diastolic pressure is a measure of blood pressure while the heart is relaxed.
If you have a diastolic number â the bottom number of a blood pressure measurement â less than 90 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg) and a systolic number â the top number of a blood pressure measurement â greater than 140 mm Hg, you have a common type of high blood pressure called isolated systolic hypertension.or years, doctors focused primarily on diastolic blood pressure. The theory was that the body could tolerate occasional increases in systolic blood pressure, but consistently high diastolic pressure could lead to health problems.